Review: Datel PSP Communicator Headset

Overview : With its comfortable, over-the-ear design and snazzy hi-tech look, Communicator Headset for PSP is an essential purchase for gamers on the move. It’s fully WiFi-compatible too; the ideal companion for Datel’s own WiFi MAX.

Communicator Headset works with any PSP game with voice chat. With a microphone positioned near your mouth and an earpiece for crystal-clear sound, Communicator Headset lets you bark out your orders or taunt your opponents as you play.

Take Sony’s brilliant SOCOM: US Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo. During online play, it’s essential that you communicate with the rest of your squad. Plan your strategies, warn your comrades in arms of impending danger and make sure everyone is doing the job they’re meant to be doing. With Communicator Headset, you can hear every word your buddies utter, and your own instructions are never lost in the heat of battle.

With more and more Sony PSP games making use of microphone communication, and for those inevitable occasions where listening to the in-game sounds is the only option, Communicator Headset is the ideal choice.

Features :

Perfect for games with Talk or voice control features

Talk Over the Net with Socom 3

Take control of your PSP

Comfortable over-ear design

Talk

Strategize

Control

Quality/Usability : What you say? This looks familiar? Well it should. Datel also released Communicator Headsets for the XBOX360 and Nintendo DS. Only difference of course is the plugs and packaging color (lime green and red respectively).

From the pictures, you would think it’s small. But when you receive, the packaging and headset itself are pretty big. Not big as in huge but big as in almost the length of your PSP. Yes, the length of your PSP. I guess you can say it’s similar to your PC microphone headphones just minus the piece that goes over your head.

On the box of the headset (as well as listed in the Feature above), it states SOCOM 3. SOCOM 3 doesn’t exist but yet they mention it a couple of times. I assume its just a typo when they really mean SOCOM: US Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo. The headset can be used for any game to allows the use of a headset. Talkman is another good example unfortunately, the list of games that uses the microphone is very very slim.

The headphones are pretty sturdy. On the earphone itself, is a small clip that loops around your ear. If you own or have seen some SONY Street style headphones, this is similar. The headphone fits on your left ear. You’re unable to switch the clip like you would do with a Bluetooth headphone. If you’re the type of person to wear them on your right ear, you’ll be disappointed and probably feel uncomfortable. The microphone doesn’t stick out all the way (approx. 3.5”) but is long enough for the other person on the other end to hear you. The length of the wire itself is long enough that you can move around freely and not too long where you have to drag it.

Since the packaging mentions SOCOM and it is the only game I own that uses the microphone headset, I used it for the testing purposes. Any sound from the game is sent directly to the speaker on the headphones. The sound is clear and not distorted. There were a few occasions where the other person started to break up but it’s probably due to lag in the WIFI connection. The microphone itself is pretty good for the most part and minimized any background noise. There were a few times where I had to talk a little louder but not to the point where I had to scream out loud. The person on the other end was able to hear me loud and clear. There were also a few occasions where they couldn’t hear me...again, probably due to lag in the WIFI connection. Just using the headset as headphones for UMD movies or games, faired pretty well. Again, there wasn’t any distortion and was pretty clear.

Conclusion : Overall, the Communicator Headset does what it is suppose to do. But with the lack of support for the use of microphone, there’s not much use for this. The microphone could be a little better when picking up voices. There are minimal complaints but the bigger flaw in my book is the inability to use the headphones on your right ear. Datel can easily fix this problem by making it detachable (see Bluetooth headphones). As new games with online features come out, hopefully they will support microphone support. If not, hopefully SONY can pull a rabbit out of the hat and have VoIP (Voice Over IP), cellphone or something along the lines that utilizes the Communicator Headset. Not only is this a great product, its affordable as well.

This version will not work on PS3 as this does not use WiFi. PSP and DS versions of the Communicator Headset uses a cord to connect to headphone jack. The Xbox360 version is WiFi but I am unable to verify if it works or not since I do not own it or have reviewed it. Knowing the history of Datel, expect to see a PS3 version of the Communicator Headset soon.